Room to breath

[Isaiah Riggs]

Theodore Keller Sooo sorry this took so long. So sorry. Work stress killed my muse and stocktake is coming soon so pray for my sanity. Sparks flew, electricity crackled, Isaiah's breath caught in his throat as Theo's thumb brushed over his skin. His eyes closed, like a slow blink as he soaked in the feeling before opening again to meet Theo's gaze. He knew his own eyes held the slightly bit more confidence than they had a moment before, the same action of Theo building that and lessening the feeling that Isaiah had held that this had to be wrong. How could it really be, when it felt so perfect and so good? And then Theo was using the word date and Isaiah couldn't imagine the moment to be anymore perfect than it was. Yes, yes yes! A date was exactly what Isaiah wanted with Theo and pushing past the reservation he felt towards that, he might even be able to tell Theo that. To make sure that it would happen. He turned, his body leaning closer to Theo and took in the deep breath he needed. "You're in the dorm?" Of course he was, with all the other teenagers who had been brought into the mountain. Where else would he be staying? Isaiah had heard nothing about the teenagers being anywhere else. He just didn't want to sound like a total idiot. "I can meet you there at 7 and we can work out what's actually happening?" That was a lot of words for Isaiah to get out in his nervous state but he was happy that he managed it and he felt some of his nerves leave him with the words. Like a sense of finality. There was going to be a date, he couldn't exactly take back his words on it now. Well, he could, but he wasn't going to. He wasn't even going to think about it. There wasn't any chance he was going to let himself destroy this chance. Keeping his gaze locked with Theo's, Isaiah just smiled. Yes, there was still colour in his cheeks. Yes, his heart was beating harder than it probably should have been. Yes, he felt horribly nervous. But he smiled and on top of it all, there was a layer of hope and the feeling of falling. Nothing felt more amazing than falling like Isaiah did and it only got better and better. "It's a date," he finally said, making that bold statement his tongue had been holding back. He squeezed Theo's hand again to follow the statement, a soft laugh with joy rather than humour. Now, what was he supposed to do between now and then? Keep sitting with Theo, move the conversation on? It felt like there was a sense of finality and Isiaah wasn't sure what to do with that.

[Theodore Keller]

Although his confidence grew with each of Isaiah's heart warming smiles, Theo had still feared that the movement of his thumb might be too much for the young man and he would shake his hand off. His heart performed a little dance when the Mountain Man didn't break the touch. The whole situation still felt surreal – one minute he was just trying to ger a little space from the people he'd spent the last couple of months of his life with and the next he was bang in the middle of what felt like a full blown flirt marathon.
He was still getting used to this new way of life, not having to constantly look over his shoulder in fear of something or someone that could kill him. Being in a place where there was plenty enough for everyone to eat was even more unusual than living without having to fear for his life every minute of every hour because there had never been enough food around as long as he could remember.

Theo's breath caught in his throat for a moment when he noticed Isaiah inch closer to him, a warm wave rushing over him as he felt the boy's body heat collide with his own. „The Dorm? Oh...that Dorm! Uhm….yeah sure, I'm staying in the Dorm!“, he stammered, feeling flustered as they were now not only holding hands, but the other man's face was also significantly closer to his. He still remembered the room he'd been in in the beginning - an all white clinical cell where he'd been all alone and frightened, not knowing what was going on. It was such a relief to see Cameron and Ruby and all the others again, but now the dorm they were all staying in together started to feel crowded and Theo yearned for some privacy which was why the library kind of felt like a sanctuary.

The Delinquent bit his bottom lip when he heard the words 'we can work out what's actually happenin'. He knew that Isaiah was only talking about the possible concert he'd mentioned earlier, but the Arker couldn't help but think about what was actually happening between the two of them and interpret the sentence accordingly. He was trying not to let the excitement about that show on his face. He felt a bit stupid for already fantasizing about the two of them dating or maybe even being a couple. What was wrong with him, his thoughts made him seem like an obsessed stalker even to himself.
The squeeze of Isaiah's hand brought him back from his ever worrying head and grounded him as another smile brightened his face. It grew even wider when the other confirmed that they were going on a date. He suddenly found himself getting nervous and thinking about what he should wear to the party.
„Do you actually have musical instruments here?“, he then asked. Sure, he'd seen the piano in the dining hall but he couldn't be sure there were any other instruments being kept in the mountain. They'd only had two or three back on the Ark and they'd only been taken out of their sealed cases for special occasions so it had been a pretty big deal for Theo to see the piano just standing there in the middle of the room.

Tag: Isaiah Riggs

[Isaiah Riggs]

Theodore Keller These two are so cute!! <3 Some of Theo's nerves seemed to return, his words stammered as he answered Isaiah's dumb question on whether he was staying in the dorm or not. Of course he was. Isaiah had still asked. The answer wasn't anything but expected, apart from the nerve ridden way it was delivered. Isaiah's own thumb moved to brush against Theo's skin, an embrace of his hand that Isaiah could only hope would be comforting and calming, and wouldn't just increase the nerves Theo was showing. All he could do was watch for his reaction, unsure of what would and wouldn't make the teenager nervous. He was still almost a stranger despite the quite intimate situation they had themselves in. Isaiah wasn't blind to the fact that their faces were so much closer than they needed to be. But he wasn't planning to move them any closer. He didn't even let the thought have a passing second in his mind. It was difficult to not think about his face though. Particularly his lips and what they might feel like against Isaiah's. He wondered if the night might end with him knowing that feeling, but he also knew he was going to let Theo decide on the pace of things. The last thing he wanted was to scare the guy away. He also couldn't stop being aware that he was younger than Isaiah. With that fact, he was glad when the conversation didn't die. Theo asking about instruments brought a fresh smile to Isaiah's face and a thought that he really enjoyed the curiosity that came from Theo. "Yeah, we do!" There was the piano on public show in the dining hall but there were also other instruments. "More of them than you'd expect. It's sort of like the paintings, you only see a fraction of what is in the mountain. Every type of instrument you can think of, including some odd ones that people obviously tried to make themselves."  Isaiah had actually tried to learn instruments when he was younger. Been put on the piano. Been encouraged to try the guitar. Neither of them grabbed his interest enough to actually stick to them, so he didn't feel the need to actually tell Theo that. Not now, at least. "You didn't have them on the Ark?" he asked, his own curiosity sparking with the thought of what life would be like without music. There were a few ipods running around the mountain, people playing music often, so music tended to be a big thing and a common thing. "I can't imagine life without concerts and stuff," he said, just a soft afterthought. Isaiah didn't want the conversation to die down, or something to come up that could lead them to separate. He was comfortable.

[Theodore Keller]

Another warm smile flashed over Theo's face as he felt Isaiah's thumb imitate the gesture his own had performed just moments before. The Arker realized that they could actually appear like a couple if someone spotted them. Holding hands and stroking each others skin could seem very intimate and it did feel like it as well, but somehow Theo still had a feeling that this was right allthough Isaiah was still practically a stranger to him. Ruby would probably tell him how crazy he was, pining over a boy he'd only met about an hour ago. He was still a bit nervous about maybe overstepping the other guy's bounderies, but since he was also caressing his hand, there was apparently no reason for him to worry.

Theo did feel excited about their approaching date and about hearing real music after not having been able to listen to any real instruments being played for such a long time. On the other hand, he didn't want this moment they were sharing to end. Sitting here holding hands and just talking and getting to know each other felt so exhalarating that he wished he could stop time and just to stay like this. So far in his young life, the boy had rarely experienced moments like this one that he wished could just stretch on for hours. He could think of many situations that he would have liked to skip and erase from his memory, so it was a nice change to feel this way.

It was still a strange experience to meet people he'd never seen before in his life since he'd only ever been around Arkers whom he'd all seen regularly. Even if he hadn't actually known each and every person on the Ark, he would at least see them pass by and know their faces. It still felt scary and exciting at the same time to get to know people who had a completely different background to his and had experienced things that were foreign to him.
Theo scratched his head with his free hand when Isaiah asked him about the music back on the Ark. „It was more of a luxury. There was a piano, which I would play whenever I could.“, he said with a smile and thought back to when he first discovered the piano inside the mountain and how happy he'd been to find out that he was allowed to play it whenever he wanted. „We had a few instruments up on the Ark that were taken from Earth when our people first left it. They were in these sort of protection cases and only taken out for celebrations like Unity Day.“, he explained, remembering how excited everyone had always been whenever they'd been allowed to listen to music and how much more relaxed everyone had seemed during those rare moments.

Tag: Isaiah Riggs

[Isaiah Riggs]

Theodore Keller Notes here. Isaiah's eyes lit up as Theo said he played the piano. While Isaiah was great at other things, playing instruments or making music of any kind wasn't his thing. Hearing that other people could always had him curious and wanting to hear them play the instrument. Or sing, if that was their thing. It only managed to make the guy next to him more attractive to hear that he was a musician. "You can play the piano? I need to hear you play sometime." And need was definitely the right word to use. He continued to brush his thumb along the skin of Theo's hand, enjoying the way small sparks followed the movement. His eyes wandered around Theo's face, appreciating the beauty of it. The dimples of his smile, the brightness of his eyes, how soft his hair looked . . . Maybe he was getting slightly creepy by that point. Isaiah quickly looked away from Theo's face, fresh colour rising in his cheeks and his thumb stopping its movement. He nodded, gaze down on their held hands. "Sounds a lot different to here," he said. It was hard to imagine instruments being kept locked up and only taken out rarely. How did people practice them? How did anyone know how to play them? What was the point in having instruments and music if people never got much of a chance to appreciate them? In the mountain, arts were always seen as something great, something to appreciate as much as possible. It just didn't quite click in Isaiah's head that it could be any different in other places. "Wait, what's Unity Day?" he suddenly asked, the words clicking in his mind as unfamiliar. Theo had said it was a celebration but it wasn't one that they had in Mount Weather.

[Theodore Keller]

Theo was surprised that Isaiah seemed so impressed by the information that he had learned how to play the piano. He'd thought that what with having such a fine instrument right in the middle of the dining hall with the chance of playing it whenever you wanted to, many Mountain Men would have that skill.
„Yeah, we had this one piano that I was only allowed to play for like an hour hour every other day. They were really strict about it, but I made the most of the time I had. I haven't played in a while though, so don't expect any masterpieces.“, he warned him with a shy chuckle. He really couldn't have been happier when he'd first seen the beautiful piece of craftsmanship standing in the middle of the big hall they'd been led to. Before that moment, it had been months since he'd gotten the chance to touch a set of those black and white keys. So after he'd filled his stomach with the luxurious feast set before him and his friends, he hadn't wasted any more time to get his hands on the instrument.
He'd usually always been very self-conscious whenever he'd played a song back on the Ark, but being given the opportunity to make music after such a long time of being deprived of it, he didn't care who listened.

Theo couldn't help but chuckle at the confusion on Isaiah's face and in his voice. Moments like these reminded him how different both of their respective societies were from one another. He wasn't sure if they had other holidays that they shared but it was only logical that the Mountain Men didn't celebrate Unity Day.
„On Unity Day, we celebrate the day the 12 stations decided to unite and form the Ark. Before that day, they were just separate stations.“, he explained with a happy smile as he remembered him and his friends always having a laugh during the festivities. „It really is our biggest holiday and everyone always made an effort to have enough food for everyone. Sometimes, we even had cake.“, he said, before realizing that Isaiah probably wouldn't be as impressed by that statement since they always had cake inside the mountain. Theo leaned against the edge of his seat again as he could feel the electricity between his and Isaiah's hand as they were both stroking the other's skin with their thumbs as if they were performing this little dance they'd choreographed together.

Tag: Isaiah Riggs

[Isaiah Riggs]

Theodore Keller Why is there an egg at the end of your last post? XD Isaiah was impressed that despite the fact that musical instruments could barely be used on the Ark, Theo could play one. It didn't even matter how good Theo was at playing the piano, not to Isaiah. He still wanted to hear whatever the guy could play. "I'm sure whatever you play will sound beautiful," Isaiah insisted, softly squeezing Theo's hand. He was glad that Theo had agreed that he would play for Isaiah, and couldn't keep a smile off of his face. It was like they had already agreed to two dates, it was difficult for Isaiah to view it in less of a way, and Isaiah felt his heart dancing in anticipation of getting to spend so much time with the beautiful person he had met. Isaiah barely cared anymore that the person was from space, or that he had been on the outside. That was a bonus but he wasn't treating the conversation anymore like he had treated others, this wasn't just a way for him to learn about what the world was like outside of Mount Weather. It was a way for him to learn about Theo, to get to know him. The way that Theo described the Unity Day holiday, it made complete sense why Isaiah had never heard of it before. It was very specific to the Space People, part of their history. It was interesting, however, to know that they had their own specific holiday, a positive side to the place that Isaiah was beginning to see wasn't as magical as he had first thought. It was disappointing to have his dreams of living in space crushed by reality but hearing about Unity Day made him feel happier about the place where Theo had grown up. "Well, you can have cake whenever you want here," he said with a grin. Isaiah had went through a stage as a kid where he had eaten too much cake. He was sure most of the kids had at least tried, it wasn't difficult to get away from parents in the crowded dining hall. Now, however, Isaiah wasn't keen on eating it very often. "Just wait until you get to celebrate a holiday in Mount Weather." Now that was something Isaiah would be excited to see, just how happy a holiday in the mountain would make the Space People--well, especially Theo. Breaking the grip of their hands, causing the sparks to die down, Isaiah's hand moved to brush an eyelash off Theo's cheek. The movement was automatic, Isaiah barely even registered he was doing it until the eyelash was gone and his hand still lightly resting on Theo's cheek. He became frozen for a moment. With his eyes on Theo's face and his thumb brushing against the soft skin of Theo's cheek again. Theo's cheek was soft and warm, a glow to his skin, something that Isaiah could imagine came from time spent out in the sun. "Sorry, there was an eyelash," Isaiah quickly said, hand dropping back away from Theo's face. He carefully held Theo's hand again, watching the younger guy's face as he did so. He was worried that he might have made Theo uncomfortable, Isaiah still felt some anxiety over what he was doing. The last thing he wanted was to take advantage of Theo.

[Theodore Keller]

Theo smiled as he remembered first seeing the piano in the dining hall. His joy at spotting the instrument had only come second to seeing the food spread out on the tables in front of his and his friend. While he'd filled his stomach with the delicious treats, tasting and smelling things he never had before, his eyes had kept wandering to the black and white keys, his fingers itching to touch them. It had taken him some courage, but he'd finally dared to ask if he could play the piano and the answer had been more than positive. The Mountain Man he'd asked had been as astonished as Isaiah to hear that he posessed this skill, apparently their people had thought they hadn't posessed such luxuries in space which was understandable when Theo came to think of it. The sound of the instrument couldn't be compare to the one he'd had at his disposal back home. His people had done everything they could to preserve the piano, but they weren't quite sure how to treat it and space didn't seem to be the right environment for such a delicate device. The Mountain Men's piano was well oiled and polished, almost looking like new. The state of the instrument combined with the fact that the dining hall with its high ceiling and stone walls was the perfect environment for any sound to unfold, the sound Theo coaxed from the piano were more wonderful than anything he'd heard before and most of his fellow Delinquants seemed as much in awe as himself.
„Well the fact that this piano hasn't just been kept in a case for the better part of a century sure helps!“, Theo said with a grin as he kept stroking Isaiah's hand which had become almost a normal thing to do by now. He wouldn't even have noticed that he was doing it anymore if he didn't still feel all those sparks going through his body as the touch left a tingle on his skin.

„Any holiday of ours will be put to shame by yours, I'm sure!“, he said with a laugh as he thought about what these people dish up even on a normal day. The Arker's celebrational feast paled even against the Mountain Men's most basic meals so there wasn't really much comparison in that department. Theo's grin fell and was replaced by a look of astonishment when Isaiah raised his hand to his cheek. The touch of his hand was so soft and so close to his lips that the boy almost started to hope that the other guy was going to kiss him, which left him feeling a little disappointed when he let his hand sink again. When the initial shock was gone, Theo smiled back at the darker boy again, his cheeks yet again pink from blushing. Theo wished Isaiah had kept his hand on his cheek, more so that he would have used both of his hands to cup his face in them and press their lips together. But Theo knew that was too much to ask for, Isaiah probably didn't want to kiss him anyway so he would be satisfied with the gentle touch they were sharing. „That's more than okay!“, Theo answered with a smile as Isaiah apologized for stroking his cheek, which was still burning from the soft touch. Maybe his words would let the guy know that what he was doing was everything that Theo wanted.

Tag: Isaiah Riggs


ooc: My character isn't gonna be the first to kiss this time!